


the universe must have my back

by rosecolouredlesbian



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, snapshots of Alex and Maggie through their time together, they're endgame though obviously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-25 09:36:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17118878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosecolouredlesbian/pseuds/rosecolouredlesbian
Summary: Maggie is a very light sleeper. Alex gives her a kiss on her forehead every time she finds her sleeping, without fail. Maggie feels them most of the time but doesn't let Alex know she's aware of it.





	the universe must have my back

**Author's Note:**

> To my Secret Santa, Grace! It's mostly fluff but I tried to fit some angst and Christmas in there as well, along with a happy ending. I hope you enjoy and Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays! 
> 
> (I don't know if this fits with their timeline perfectly but I tried to make it work)

Maggie is a very light sleeper. She could probably trace that back to the sleepless nights, nightmares and the lack of feeling safe in her own bed at night she experienced as a child. She prefers to think of it as just a disposition of hers. 

As a result, she wakes up to sometimes even the smallest of sounds. She often wakes to the sound of thunder, when she hears a neighbor yelling or slamming doors or when she feels the woman sleeping next to her getting up or moving around. It’s definitely annoying most of the time. She wishes and waits for the day where she can have a solid eight hours sleep without waking up but that doesn’t seem to be coming anytime soon. At least she was blessed with the ability to fall asleep fairly quickly so she’s not completely doomed on the sleeping front.

Maggie and Alex have only been dating for a few weeks and they haven’t spent the night together yet, but that seems like it’s about to change.

It’s one of the rare nights where neither of them has to work the next day so Maggie is over at Alex’s apartment. They don’t mean to stay up as late as they do but Alex tried to cook for them which meant that Maggie had to come in and try and salvage what Alex hadn’t completely ruined. Then they started watching Criminal Minds (dispersed with sessions of making out on the couch) and suddenly it was two in the morning and they were falling asleep on the couch.

Somehow, even with Alex’s persistence to want Maggie to be comfortable and Maggie’s hesitance with sharing a bed in case she accidentally crosses a line as they have been taking it slowly, they make their way up the few steps, only taking off their jeans before getting into bed.

They’re both extremely tired but it’s still the first time they’re sharing a bed, a fact Maggie is very aware of. She lays her left arm across Alex’s stomach, leaning up so that her face is hovering above Alex’s.

“Goodnight babe,” she says leaning down to kiss Alex.

“Goodnight,” Alex says through her already drooping eyelids, which Maggie just finds absolutely adorable.

They both fall asleep easily and peacefully.

When Maggie begins to stir it’s because she can feel Alex moving in her arms. There is light before her eyes but she’s too tired to acknowledge it so she tries to get back to sleep. Alex, however, must be ready to start the day because she seems to be maneuvering out of her arms as not to wake her to start her morning.

Before she gets up though, Alex leans over and places a kiss on Maggie’s forehead. It’s soft and caring and feels very intimate. It makes Maggie’s heart swell and she smiles just slightly before drifting back to sleep for another half an hour. 

 

***

 

The next time that it happens is the night when Alex and Maggie sleep together for the first time. It’s one of the most intimate and wonderful nights of Maggie’s life. They fall asleep in each other’s arms, knowing that what they have is real and only a shy step away from love.

The only time she wakes in the night is when Alex readjusts next to her in bed. Alex turns to face Maggie, intertwining her legs with Maggie’s and burying her face in Maggie’s chest. Before she settles, Alex leans up and Maggie feels her lips on her forehead, lingering for a few seconds like she’s trying to put all the emotion they’d experienced earlier that night into the gesture.

Alex rests her head back down on Maggie’s chest and Maggie pulls her in closer to her, both quickly falling back asleep.

 

***

 

Maggie starts spending more and more time at Alex’s apartment. They start to develop a routine, even with their long and unpredictable work hours. 

Whoever is home (Maggie is increasingly starting to call Alex’s apartment home) first gets dinner, which for Alex is usually ordering something in while most of the time Maggie tries to cook something. Maggie has had to stock up Alex’s kitchen considerably in order to be able to prepare any meal for them. Then they spend their nights watching TV or Maggie works on some paperwork from the precinct while Alex reads a book. 

Every night that they can, they sleep at each other’s apartments. Every time, without fail, Maggie feels Alex kiss her on the forehead. whether it’s when Alex gets up early in the morning to go for a run, or when she gets up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom or get some water, or even just changing her sleeping position; she places a kiss ever so softly on Maggie’s head.

On the busy nights or the late nights when their routine is interrupted, Maggie will sometimes fall asleep before Alex gets home. She’ll be in bed before Alex even gets home or she’ll try and stay up for Alex but end up sleeping on the couch with Netflix asking her if she’s still there. 

Maggie finds that Alex still gives her a kiss. No matter how tired she is or how roughed up from training or fighting, Maggie will hear the door to Alex’s apartment open and the first thing Alex does is find her. 

Maggie doesn’t think that Alex knows Maggie is aware of all the forehead kisses. Maggie knows first hand how loving and caring and soft Alex can be and this only adds to it. 

Maggie has never had a girlfriend that treats her like Alex does. Alex makes her feel like she’s precious and deserves to be taken care of and protected, especially at her most vulnerable like when she’s sleeping. With every passing day, Maggie falls deeper and deeper in love with Alex.

 

***

 

They get a dog and they name her Gertrude. Even though Alex was willing to give up that name since it was just the first name that popped into her head, Maggie kind of liked it. Well, more what that name represented, Alex is home and she’s safe. 

Alex has been staying up at night, whether it’s on purpose or she’s just struggling to sleep Maggie isn’t sure. Maggie is also struggling to sleep. Most nights they just hold each other, listening to each others breathing and each other's heartbeats, constantly assuring themselves they are here with each other and no one can take that away from them. 

They decided they needed to bring some more life and light into their home to help them move on from the trauma they experienced. They visited a few animal shelters, not completely sure on what kind of dog they were looking for, only knowing they wanted to adopt. After a few weeks of looking they find a young Bernese Mountain Dog that they instantly warm to.

They’ve had her now for a couple of weeks and have started to get used to the routine and shared responsibility that comes with having a dog. If anything it makes Maggie wants to intertwine her life with Alex’s even more.

Alex is late home one night and Maggie is curled up on the sofa with Gertrude resting under Maggie’s arm. She’s been drifting in and out of sleep for a while now but Gertrude is completely out of it, having deep dreams if her paws moving like she’s running is any indication.

Unlike usual, Maggie doesn’t awaken when Alex sneaks in the door to the apartment. Maggie starts to stir when the sofa slightly dips and she feels a warmth over her arm as Alex leans over and kisses Gertrude on the top of the head, sitting back up and doing the same to Maggie. Only after that does Alex sweep the fallen hair behind Maggie’s ear and start to stroke her arm back and forth to coax her awake. 

“You’re here,” Maggie says, opening her eyes just slightly.

“Of course I am, sorry I was late home,” Alex says with a bit of regret in her voice.

Maggie shakes her head. She knows that this is the type of careers they have, she knows what she signed up for and she would never change a thing.

“Come up to bed, I don’t want you to get all cramped up,” Alex says, picking up Gertrude first and placing her in her bed and then coming back to help Maggie up to their bed. 

Maggie sleeps more soundly that night than she has in a while. 

 

***

 

They had a fight. The biggest one they’ve ever had. Mostly they have arguments about fairly insignificant things but this is definitely not one of those times. 

Alex had been missing in action for almost forty-eight hours and hadn’t told Maggie at all. She left on a whim, following Kara and J’onn to another universe without even letting Maggie know beforehand. 

She got a call an hour after they left from Winn telling her what happened. He said it was desperate and Alex needed to go with them to help and make sure Kara would be safe. And she just left without a phone call or even a text to Maggie, leaving her with no knowledge as to when they would be back. Especially after the time Alex got abducted and knowing the distress and pain that caused Maggie, it’s hard to cope with it happening again and knowing that this time Alex could’ve done something to ease that worry.

Maggie has never loved anyone as much as she loves Alex and the thought of her going to an unknown universe without the backup of the DEO and without Maggie being able to look out for her is terrifying. When Alex gets back to her apartment where Maggie has been staying alone for the past two days, that terror turns into anger towards Alex.

Winn had insisted that Maggie go home and rest and have a shower after being at the DEO for almost the entirety of the two days. To her reluctance she did. 

Maggie was sitting at Alex’s kitchen counter with a glass of bourbon in her hand when Alex came home. After Maggie made sure she was okay the situation got heated. Maggie tells Alex how worried she was and how reckless and inconsiderate it was leaving without saying a word to her. Alex apologizes but insists she had to follow Kara, she didn’t have a choice or the time to call Maggie. 

They go around in circles, Alex insisting it was an emergency and she didn’t have the time and Maggie being hurt that she couldn’t take one minute to tell her, not considering how worried she would be. Kara isn’t the only one in her life anymore and she needs to know that and respect how Maggie feels. 

It goes on and on until Alex leaves to go back to the DEO, frustrated.

The last two days of not sleeping catch up with her and she’s emotionally exhausted. After she finished her glass of bourbon she goes to bed to get some rest. 

She must have fallen asleep straight away because the next thing she knows, she’s being awoken by the sound of the door opening from across the apartment. She hears keys drop to the shelf next to the door and an exasperated sigh from Alex. 

Maggie buries her face deeper in the pillow, she doesn’t have the energy to inevitably fight again. Maybe she should’ve gone back to her apartment but they’ve been together for four months, she basically spends every night here. Even though they’re fighting, as dumb or ridiculous as it sounds, she doesn’t want to spend a night without Alex by her side.

After a few minutes, she starts drifting back to sleep but she can still hear Alex pacing in the living room, and what sounds like pouring herself a drink. Maybe she’s frustrated that Maggie stayed, or that she’s asleep so the fight can’t continue, or something else went wrong with the mission. Maggie tries to ignore it and give in to her exhaustion for the second time tonight. She’s not ready for another screaming match, the first one was painful enough. 

She’s back to sleep when the feeling of Alex’s lips on her forehead brings her barely back to consciousness. She lingers for a long few seconds. She must be kneeling on the floor, next to the bed. Alex pulls back, sighing. She places some of Maggie’s hair behind her ear, trailing her finger along Maggie’s jaw. Maggie stays stationary, still in the throes of sleep.

Even in her barely aware state, Maggie’s heart melts. She just wanted to know Alex was safe and coming back to her. 

“What did I do?” Alex almost inaudibly whispers to herself. “I’m such an idiot.”

That wakes Maggie up a bit more. She’s upset but she doesn’t want Alex to think that she’s lost her. 

Maggie starts to flutter her eyes and groans at the idea of acknowledging her awake state.

“Maggie? Are you awake?”

Maggie nods before opening her eyes. Alex is looking at her. It’s hard to tell in the soft moonlight that barely illuminates the room, but her eyes look a bit swollen, from tiredness or crying, Maggie can’t tell which one. Could be both.

“Maggie, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t ha-”

“It’s okay, Alex,” her voice is rough from the just waking up. “I’m sorry, too.”

“No, it was me. I made a bad call, I-”

Maggie brings her hand up to cup Alex’s cheek. 

“We can talk about it tomorrow, okay? Just get in here with me. Please?” 

Maybe she comes off a little desperate, but maybe she is. She could’ve lost her. Once when she sacrificed her life and once when she walked away. All Maggie wants to do is be close to her girlfriend right now. 

“Okay.” 

She stands up, getting changed into her pajamas quickly and coming to rest behind Maggie, arms wrapped around her. 

“I love you,” Alex whispers. 

“I love you, too,” Maggie replies.

Maggie finds comfort in the fact that maybe they will always make up like this and no matter what they will get to tell the other they love them at the end of each night. Maybe, just maybe, this is it, for the rest of her life. She can only hope.

 

***

 

It’s Christmas Eve and Kara is hosting a party at her apartment. She invited just their close friends; James, Winn, J’onn, Lucy, Eliza and, of course, Maggie. It’s Maggie’s first real family get together since she and Alex got engaged. Plus, between working and planning a wedding, they haven’t been very social so it’s nice to get everyone together.

They had a great dinner that Kara and Eliza prepared before they all arrived. After clearing the table and stacking the dishwasher, they separate off into different parts of the room. Some of them are sat around the television making fun of a terrible Christmas movie, while Alex, Maggie, Eliza, J’onn and Winn standing around Kara’s kitchen counter talking casually. 

Maggie has never really experienced a family like this. She was shunned from her own when she was only a young teenager, leaving her and the only family member that still gave a damn about her. Through the years she’s found friends and people that she felt were her family but they never stuck around. But now, surrounded by all these people she cares so much for, she feels like she has a family for the first time in a long time. And really it’s the first time she has a family to love her for who she is.

Alex has a protective, caring hand on her lower back the entirety of the conversation and it’s another one of the small gestures that make Maggie’s love for her grow even more than she had ever thought possible for herself. 

Eliza and J’onn get into a discussion about some of the biological discoveries they have been making at the DEO recently which Maggie only half pays attention to, too absorbed in her own thoughts. 

“You alright?” Alex quietly asks, presumably noticing her disconnection from the conversation. 

Maggie looks up at Alex who’s looking at her with nothing but affection. 

“Yeah,” Maggie simply replies. “I’m good.”

“Okay,” Alex says with a content smile on her face.

There’s a look in Alex’s eyes like she’s experiencing a pull towards Maggie. She glances up at Maggie’s forehead which is right at the level of her lips due to their height difference. Maggie is a bit surprised as she waits for her to lean in and kiss her. She’s come to learn that particular sign of affection is something special to Alex that she doesn’t even do when Maggie is awake. 

With a small bit of disappointment on Maggie’s part, Alex leans down and plants a kiss on her cheek instead. Her disappointment, however, is quickly replaced by a growing warmth and affection that Alex has something that she wants to share with just Maggie; that must feel so honest and sensitive for her in a way it never has before that she wants to keep it as something special and private. It makes Maggie feel important and valued, even if she has to be asleep to enjoy it. 

“You two,” Winn says with a wide grin on his face.

“Shut up, Winn,” Alex says as Maggie rolls her eyes. 

 

***

 

Maggie slowly becomes aware of herself again. She starts to feel the weight of her limbs against a mattress that isn’t hers. She starts to notice the blackness of the inside of her eyelids rather than the nothingness she was just experiencing. 

Her memories of what happened start to come back to her. The last thing Maggie can remember is the sound of a gun, a horrible pain in her ribs, falling to the cold concrete below and spreading dampness on her shirt. 

Her first instinct is to panic but then she feels the all too familiar softness of Alex’s lips on her forehead and her panic subsides for a few moments. She tries to open her eyes as Alex moves so that their foreheads are touching. 

“Wake up for me Maggie,” Alex desperately whispers, the sound of tears in her voice. “Please, I need you. Please wake up.”

Maggie feels the drop of a tear on her cheek which finally gives her the strength to open her eyes. She needs to show Alex she’s okay even if she isn’t sure herself. 

Her eyes open slightly to be met with Alex’s closed ones. The light is too bright against the darkness she was just surrounded by so they quickly close again. Maggie groans at the light and the growing awareness of the pain in her chest. 

Alex instantly leans up, placing her hands on Maggie’s cheeks. 

“Maggie,” Alex urgently chokes out through tears. “Are you awake?”

Maggie tries to open her eyes again and this time is met with the red, swollen ones of the love of her life. 

“Hi,” Maggie croaks out, realizing how painfully dry her throat is. 

Alex breathes out a relieved sigh. “Hi.”

Maggie tries to sit up. She wants to be strong for Alex, show her she has nothing to worry about even though she doesn’t even know if that’s true yet. She feels a searing pain in the right side of her chest as she moves but she tries to push on. Before she can get much higher than a few inches off the pillow, Alex’s hand on her shoulder eases her back down. 

“Don’t move,” Alex whispers, sweeping the fallen hair behind Maggie’s ear. 

Maggie takes short, panicked breaths in response to her pain, starting to feel sweat break out across the surface of her skin. 

“Try to breathe slower, babe,” Alex guides, trying to demonstrate the pattern for Maggie to match. 

Maggie attempts to keep her eyes trained on Alex, listening to her soft inhales and exhales. She tries to match her, willing the blackness of her vision from the pain to go away. After a minute or so Maggie relaxes back into the mattress, the pain numbed enough.

“What ha-” Maggie tries to say but a cough interrupts her speech. 

Alex reaches over to the bedside table for the bottle of water. She softly places her hand behind Maggie’s neck, easing her up enough to help her drink. 

“Don’t try to speak,” Alex says. She puts the cap on the bottle, placing it back on the table and wipes a few of the almost dry tears from her cheeks. “You got shot,” Alex continues with a shaky voice. “And you have a collapsed lung but you’re going to be okay,” Alex sighs like she’s trying to convince herself of that just as much as she is Maggie. 

“I’ll be okay,” Maggie says, it’s partly a question and partly confirming it to Alex.

“You’ll be okay.”

 

***

 

It’s nearing one in the morning when Alex and Maggie finally get to their hotel room. Alex falls down onto the bed, looking up the ceiling. Maggie giggles at the way her white dress billows up as she drops. 

“I should have done what you did and changed into a suit for the reception,” Alex says, trying to pat down her dress. 

“Not everyone can be as clever as me,” Maggie says, shrugging off her blazer. “But,” Maggie continues,  more sentimental, “you looked beautiful all night.”

Alex sits up on her elbows to look at Maggie, a soft, warm smile on her face.

“So did you,” Alex responds.

“That being said,” Maggie says, walking towards the bed. “I wouldn’t be opposed to getting you out of that dress.”

Maggie leans over Alex, resting her weight on her hands placed either side of Alex so she can lean down and connect their lips. Alex’s hands come up to cup Maggie’s face as she deepens the kiss. 

Maggie pulls back just to look at her. 

“I love you,” Alex says softly. “Wife.”

“I love you too, wife,” Maggie replies.

They beam at each other, just soaking in the moment. Maggie leans back down but instead of meeting Alex’s lips, she shifts up further and places a kiss on Alex’s forehead. Alex turns instantly red and opens her mouth like she’s speechless. 

Maggie brushes past it, connecting their lips again in a welcome distraction for Alex. Maybe Alex is just always going to be too soft for her own good, even now that they’re married. It’s not like she’s scared of intimacy, they are way past that now. Maggie simply enjoys the fact that she can make her wife feel like a teenage girl with her first love. Maybe that’s because that’s exactly what Maggie is; Alex’s first love. 

All Maggie knows is that she can’t wait to live the rest of their lives together and experience anything that comes along, especially if it includes secret forehead kisses every night for the next sixty years. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are really appreciated!
> 
> You can find me on twitter @thirteenyazmin or tumblr @ginalinettii


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